Dispensers for medication tablets are generally known in the art. People taking medication on a regular basis (for example, daily or weekly) often use dispensers to organize and store the tablets until they are used. There are various configurations of tablet dispensers, each generally designed to hold a sufficient number of tablets for a desired medication period. For example, a dispenser may be configured to hold a one month supply of tablets and be arranged so that each tablet is stored in, and accessible from, an individual compartment. Alternatively, a tablet dispenser might hold a supply of tablets in one large compartment (enough for one month, for example) or several compartments (enough for a week in each compartment), and release one tablet at a time as necessary. A tablet dispenser may also be capable of holding more than one type of tablet, and be capable of dispensing one or multiple types of those tablets in regular or semi-regular intervals. An exhaustive list of the numerous types of tablet dispensers is omitted here for convenience only, and should not be considered limiting.
Tablet dispensers generally known in the art are also designed to be child resistant, to discourage children from opening the dispenser and gaining access to the medication. Child resistant features generally focus on making it difficult for the child to remove the cap covering the medication dispenser. Dispensers and containers are made child resistant in a variety of ways, including snap tabs, squeeze tabs and rotatable push lids. The particular type of child resistant mechanism used on a given tablet dispenser usually depends on the exact form and function of the tablet dispenser itself. Thus, there are numerous tablet dispensers having child resistant features which are generally known in the art, which are eliminated here for convenience only, and should not be considered limiting.
Tablets are often sold and distributed in blister packs containing individual sealed compartments. Each individual compartment usually contains one tablet sealed therein by a thin membrane (such as foil or cellophane). To remove the tablet from the blister pack, the consumer must push hard enough on the compartment to break the membrane and force the tablet through, into the consumer's hand. Blister packs are popular with consumers since they allow visual inspection of the remaining tablets. Evidence of tampering can be easily observed since each compartment is individually sealed and obviously broken open upon use.
Blister packs have been used in combination with tablet dispensers, by inserting a blister pack into a dispenser designed to correspondingly receive blister packs containing a particular number of tablets. The blister pack's individual compartments usually fit into tablet holes in the tablet dispenser. Even if a particular blister pack is too large to fit into a tablet dispenser, a blister pack is usually made of material which can be easily trimmed to reduce the number of tablet compartments in the blister back to correspond to the number of tablet holes in the tablet dispenser.
The goal of tablet dispensers in any of the numerous configurations known in the art is to enable the consumer to more easily organize, dispense and remember to use the medication as required. To this end, tablet dispensers usually have organizational labeling on the container to help remind the consumer when to take the next tablet. For example, a daily dispenser organizing the tablets into individual compartments might label those compartments with days of the week so the consumer knows to take the tablet(s) in that compartment on the specified day. However, despite the organizational and dispensing capabilities of tablet dispensers, the consumer must himself still remember to dispense and take the tablets. The tablet dispensers known in the art do not provide for a reliable way of actively reminding the consumer when to take the next dose of medication.
Accordingly, the present invention incorporates the features of tablet dispensers, blister packs and child resistant features generally known in the art with an alarm unit which makes it easier for consumers to remember to take their medication by actively alerting the consumer to dispense a tablet at the next prescribed dosage time.